Authentic Italian Food and how to make sure there's passion in your cooking

Authentic Italian Food and How to ‘Do It Right’

Gavin Wren Food Education, Food Opinion Pieces, Food Techniques, Writing

An Italian Muse. Over the last few days my ongoing obsession with authentic Italian food has been stoked by working on an ultimate spelt pizza guide, a series of recipe tests that have furnished my table with some of the nicest pizzas I’ve ever had, which although sounding incredibly smug and arrogant, is true. Soon I will share the delights of these creations with you, so that you can partake in these discs of passionate …

Recipe modification, diversification and bastardisation

Recipe Modification, Diversification and Bastardisation

Gavin Wren Food Blogging, Food Opinion Pieces, Writing

Respect the Recipe. There have been many occasions, both on this blog and in my real, physical existence, where I’ve managed to work myself into a contorted fit of rage over inappropriate recipe modification of certain traditional dishes. I have enormous respect for time honoured, traditional recipes, the amazing dishes and techniques which have been handed down through time for each generation to enjoy. Often based in simplicity, or invoking a fundamental technique of a …

butternut squash black background

‘The Main Ingredient’ and Culinary Prejudices

Gavin Wren Food Education, Food Opinion Pieces, Writing

Forgive me father. It’s confessional corner again, time to lay bare yet another one of my peculiar little nuances regarding food. This time it’s a distinctly partial perspective of mine, a way of approaching food which has taken years to become apparent, and taken quite some time to ultimately dispel. It affected how I planned meals, how I chose recipes and how I did my shopping. This particularly peculiar perception worked to furnish me with …

Why Icarus Was Right And Your Teachers Were Wrong

Gavin Wren Food Opinion Pieces, Writing

Most people learn about the fate of Icarus at a young age. It serves as a powerfully graphic warning of the perils of excessive self-confidence, how one should avoid extreme risks because of their potentially grave conscequences. The crux of the story has even passed into our lexicon as a euphemism for over-reaching ambition or greed. I’ve often heard it said, in a slightly smug way, that someone has “flown too close to the sun” …

home cooked truths 5 - kitchen gadgets

Video: Kitchen gadgets and their false claims

Gavin Wren Food Opinion Pieces, Food Techniques, Writing, YouTube Food Videos

I hate clutter Being a big food eater (I don’t mean that I’m big, but that my interest in the aforementioned subject looms overwhelmingly across large swathes of my conscious and unconscious existence), the accumulation of kitchen gadgets presents a difficult situation. Even if you have merely a whimsical attraction to cooking then you’ll be well aware that the food industry is a flabbergastingly vast arena in which your hard earned pennies can be tempted …

How to write bad blog posts and lose visitors

How to write bad blog posts and lose visitors

Gavin Wren Food Blogging, Food Opinion Pieces, Writing

If there’s one thing that turns me off when I read a blog post, it’s starting with phrases like “YOU NEED THIS IN YOUR LIFE!” or “This recipe is AMAZING and will CHANGE your WORLD”. You don’t NEED any recipe in your life, you just need basic food and water and the absolute last thing you need in your life is someone telling you what choices you should make. You should work them out for …